We have seen major conglomerates collapse in the face of disasters, which are not just about those caused by fire or flood or the failure of technology; they could be about the collapse of key suppliers or customers, fraud, unethical operations, and about reputation management. Furthermore, with the rise of e-business and reliance on technology, there are real threats associated which require that the electronic environment be adequately protected in terms of security policies and procedures, built-in resilience and effective recovery arrangements.
Hence, business continuity management (BCM) gained a higher profile on governments, regulators and boardroom agendas. Whilst governments have a responsibility to ensure the resilience of their institutions and continuity of the critical activities and services; they also have a wider role in partnership with the private sector to ensure that reasonable business continuity measures are in place.